Matchfit declines DA...Reasoning is...

[Unregistered]

Playing against a younger boys team, all girls versus all boys is a good practice as others have explained.

Top girls need to play with and alongside talented boys or men if they want to be challenged. Speed of play, sophistication, positioning and decisiveness all improve substantially. Because of the difference in athleticism, touch and comfort on the ball is absolutely necessary to keep up.

Top women's college teams utilize men in their practices for this very reason. A midfielder on the Maryland men's team a few years back was practicing with the women before he was rostered with the men. Overlooked initially because he was too small, yet became a star once he was given the chance.

[Unregistered]

really? That's interesting and I didn't know that. Thanks for the info.

[Unregistered]

I will digress for a moment and I am sorry, but we tapped into the mentality of players and I would like to take that a little further.

My early teenaged daughter is unusual in that by playing with boys and watching men's soccer extensively (she strongly prefers to watch men) she has developed more of a "male" mentality when it comes to the game. She now plays with girls and has encountered some problems on and off the field. She looks like a regular girl with her ponytail flopping and tie dye headband, but acts like a boy. Very aggressive and frankly edgy. She got 3 yellows for dissent last year (total about 35 games- no cursing or anything, little more than hands up and "sir!") but not acceptable apparently in a girl. She is a very flamboyant player in every way- drawing attention with her moves, flicks and tricks. Kids literally falling down at her feet sometimes without any contact. Also the girl cliques are not very accepting of her; she has a few friends on the team, but some of the more "popular" girls are pretty outwardly negative to her. The male coach doesn't seem to have an issue with her or her behavior.

Are there differing standards for behavior between boys and girls? It has been mentioned even by Carli Lloyd in her book as social aspects influencing national selections and play time. How big of a problem is this? Is the same behavior in a boy simply seen as a manifestation of his passion?

[Unregistered]

I will digress for a moment and I am sorry, but we tapped into the mentality of players and I would like to take that a little further.

My early teenaged daughter is unusual in that by playing with boys and watching men's soccer extensively (she strongly prefers to watch men) she has developed more of a "male" mentality when it comes to the game. She now plays with girls and has encountered some problems on and off the field. She looks like a regular girl with her ponytail flopping and tie dye headband, but acts like a boy. Very aggressive and frankly edgy. She got 3 yellows for dissent last year (total about 35 games- no cursing or anything, little more than hands up and "sir!") but not acceptable apparently in a girl. She is a very flamboyant player in every way- drawing attention with her moves, flicks and tricks. Kids literally falling down at her feet sometimes without any contact. Also the girl cliques are not very accepting of her; she has a few friends on the team, but some of the more "popular" girls are pretty outwardly negative to her. The male coach doesn't seem to have an issue with her or her behavior.

Are there differing standards for behavior between boys and girls? It has been mentioned even by Carli Lloyd in her book as social aspects influencing national selections and play time. How big of a problem is this? Is the same behavior in a boy simply seen as a manifestation of his passion?

You just answered your own question by citing Lloyd. Girls are different than boys and will more quickly change their personality or play to please the team dynamic. Read Anson Dorrance and other coaches if you doubt the differences.

[Unregistered]

There was more than one question. Girls are different than boys Ok. The question is really is their a difference in acceptance of boyish (aggression/edge/opposition) behavior in girls?

[Unregistered]

There was more than one question. Girls are different than boys Ok. The question is really is their a difference in acceptance of boyish (aggression/edge/opposition) behavior in girls?

The player in question sounds like a lose cannon. An "early" teen-aged player should not be mouthing off to the refs, period. Boy or girl.

[Unregistered]

There was more than one question. Girls are different than boys Ok. The question is really is their a difference in acceptance of boyish (aggression/edge/opposition) behavior in girls?

There definitely is a difference in what sideline parents are willing to accept. Many girl's parents seem to forget soccer is a contact sport and just because Mia takes a tumble doesn't mean there was a foul.

- parent of 2 each

[Unregistered]

The player in question sounds like a lose cannon. An "early" teen-aged player should not be mouthing off to the refs, period. Boy or girl.

Mouthing off to refs has worked its way into U12 soccer sadly.

[Unregistered]

Their arguments make total sense. ECNL is probably the best fit for most girls anyway. The DA is going to have an uphill battle trying to convince good and even great players to dedicate themselves to DA soccer and nothing else.

I feel there will need to be some middle ground solution to this mess. One idea I read about is that the DA should work with ECNL and Non-ECNL clubs and have an ODP type flavor. They would take the regional all-star teams and training them on a periodic basis and also have a couple of month long high intensity windows during the year where there could be 4-5 practices/games/scrimmages a week. This would only work if the clubs encouraged their best players participate ... no easy task. And then the politics would be messy.

I like this because then there would be real competition for National team slots and allow the best players to be evaluated together first at a regional level and then beyond. Today only ECNL kids get a shot at the National team camps for the most part.

What you said is exactly how you weed them out. If a player is not willing to commit to DA, then how do you expect them to commit to NT?

[Unregistered]

Mouthing off to refs has worked its way into U12 soccer sadly.

Then refs shouldn't hesitate to pull out the yellow.

[Unregistered]

What you said is exactly how you weed them out. If a player is not willing to commit to DA, then how do you expect them to commit to NT?

Taking that further, what the college coaches will also realize is that if a kid isn't willing to put the work in to be in the DA, they are not likely to be hard workers at the college level. The result will be the same though, they'll get weeded out.

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Taking that further, what the college coaches will also realize is that if a kid isn't willing to put the work in to be in the DA, they are not likely to be hard workers at the college level. The result will be the same though, they'll get weeded out.

GDA won't even come close to filling all the college roster spots out there. And just because a player choses not to DA doesn't mean 1) they aren't good enough 2) they aren't hard workers

[Unregistered]

Then refs shouldn't hesitate to pull out the yellow.

Yes, refs need to be extra strict with disrespectful attitudes at the younger ages. If not, it's almost a disservice to the kids to let them think this is acceptable behavior.

[Unregistered]

GDA won't even come close to filling all the college roster spots out there. And just because a player choses not to DA doesn't mean 1) they aren't good enough 2) they aren't hard workers

That's true about not being able to fill all the spots because GDA around here will only have roughly 20 D1 prospects a year and they'll get snapped up pretty quickly. As far as the rest of the D1 spots around here that won't draw the interest of a GDA prospect what you are functionally talking about are programs well down in the rankings that don't typically recruit nationally so those coaches are not suddenly going to start traveling across the country to scout ECNL games. That will increase the significance of local events and really reinforce the point Heinrichs us making.

Don't kid yourself, any player that has the actual ability to be on a DA team that doesn't do it is going to have a big question mark floating over their head. They will be perceived to be a slacker. That's just human nature. That's not to say though that kids who can't make the DA will be perceived the same way or that they aren't a D1 prospect. It tells everyone what they are which is something less than a Top tier prospect. Nothing wrong with that unless you are one of the delusional parents that refuse to accept such realities. Unfortunately there are a lot of those parents in club soccer these days. Fortunately there tends to less delusion amongst the local college coaches that ultimately will recruit their kids.

[Unregistered]

That's true about not being able to fill all the spots because GDA around here will only have roughly 20 D1 prospects a year and they'll get snapped up pretty quickly. As far as the rest of the D1 spots around here that won't draw the interest of a GDA prospect what you are functionally talking about are programs well down in the rankings that don't typically recruit nationally so those coaches are not suddenly going to start traveling across the country to scout ECNL games. That will increase the significance of local events and really reinforce the point Heinrichs us making.

Don't kid yourself, any player that has the actual ability to be on a DA team that doesn't do it is going to have a big question mark floating over their head. They will be perceived to be a slacker. That's just human nature. That's not to say though that kids who can't make the DA will be perceived the same way or that they aren't a D1 prospect. It tells everyone what they are which is something less than a Top tier prospect. Nothing wrong with that unless you are one of the delusional parents that refuse to accept such realities. Unfortunately there are a lot of those parents in club soccer these days. Fortunately there tends to less delusion amongst the local college coaches that ultimately will recruit their kids.

And you're back. Darn.